


running with the ghosts of deer

by sodium_chloride



Category: Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, Thomas the Tank Engine - All Media Types
Genre: WIP, chapters are short and sweet, it'll include less oc's i swear, poor percy he's in for a fright, some things are best left untouched
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-29 23:20:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19840636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodium_chloride/pseuds/sodium_chloride
Summary: Something has been running through Sodor once night falls. There are old legends of ghosts, ghosts animals with ghost people. Most of them have been debunked as a myth and a fairy tale-- that is until a few particular people (or engines) see something that just doesn't add up to cutting it down to a myth. Then the engines start appearing in a form that isn't their bodies, and the crew are forced to think twice about doing routine night-time runs. Something's not right.





	1. glimpse of white

He was damn lucky that he got his own dream job. How long did it take to get here? Not long at all. Even if it was just the simple job of cleaning coaches, or perhaps showing people to their preferred spots for a specific part of the coach for a specific train that ran on a specific day. And sometimes those specific people would be nice, sometimes specifically not. 

And then there were the days he was thankful for his job, but getting up before the sun had even thought of completing its hike along the southern hemisphere was not the most particular part of the job. 

However, Jaques tried to make it the best he could. Everything was still in the yards that early morning. The mail crew were quiet, the little green engine named Percy with a smart ‘6’ painted on his sides was quiet. The silence hung like a blanket, the sky holding it down and reassuring the earth and its residents that the day would bloom beautifully. 

“G’morn’, Jack..!” One of the workmen called to him, keeping his voice quiet. Jaques waved back with a confused smile. He did not know the man on a personal level, and sometimes it was unusual for such people to call out. But he was getting used to the overall friendliness of the railway and was trying to make it the best he could. 

The perk of early morning mail, however, was that he could sit for the few minutes allotted when the train was going through final checks and talk with the engine. 

“Hello, Jaques, it’s nice to see you again!” 

Jaques looked up and saw himself coming face-to-face with a larger-than-life imitation in grey, the sheer size of even the smaller engines still taking a moment to force his view into perspective.

“Hullo, Percy, I could find it the same to you,” Jaques climbed up on Percy’s running board, careful not to bump even the slightest thing so that when it came time to go the only thing he would have to do is jump right off. 

“Hm. Yes, I do. Have you heard of the deer running about in this season?” 

Jaques shook his head. Sure, he knew that deer were most active in the spring and summer, but he didn’t think that there was anything particularly out of the ordinary with it. 

“No, I don’t think so. Why, do you think there’s anything out of the ordinary happening?”

Percy squinted his eyes into the lingering darkness, as if the engine were trying to make out a trace in the night time. 

“Hm. Every time I’ve gone out, there have been more deer out than normal. But you know what I mean--” Percy looked over to Jaques (as much as a train could)-- “I don’t find it just to be a seasonal thing or anything of the sort. Something odd about them to can be frightening.” 

“And what would that be?” Jaques asked, knowing full well that the smaller green engine was susceptible to ‘monsters’ and the like. 

Percy looked back into the darkness again, looking for something. 

“Well, Jaques, they appear to be all white.” 


	2. henry- first encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> percy isn't the only one. something is happening.

Being one of the engines that had helped to build up the island from the start had its perks. It meant that Henry knew the island like the back of his hand, or fender if so to speak, as well as becoming long acquainted with the culture and people. 

That also meant that he was well-acquitted with the lore and old fairy tales, the history and the mystery of the island of Sodor. Henry also knew never to take James’ stories seriously, or to realise that  _ something  _ is behind the monster sightings that Percy comes in with every so often. 

Most of all, however, the normality of it all led Henry just to take no mind to when things  _ did  _ happen. Sometimes there would be a stray cat, or perhaps a flock of sheep had gotten out of the pasture. These were things to expect, and Henry didn’t pay any mind to when he saw the glimpse of something white while pulling the Kipper. 

As Henry neared his cruising speed, he settled in for the long stretch of land through the eastern woods before his next stop. His crew didn’t talk often, preferring to let their engine work in peace and enjoy the sunrise as it came up towards the end of their run. Even though everyone was quiet, and save for the thunder of Henry going down the line, the green engine couldn’t help but notice that the silence hung like a thick blanket over them. Even when he picked up speed, the thickness seemed to be holding him back. He took a gasp of air and found it to be quite alright and without mist or fog, and the night was clear in the tracks before him. 

“Woah- hold on, boy, easy now…!” His driver called down the boiler, and Henry had to hold back. He was unwittingly speeding, easily breaking the limits that were in place for this part of the line. “Nothing’s behind us, slow down!” 

“Yes, driver! Sorry!” Henry called back, although he didn’t want to stop. The silence was dark and heavy, as if an impending storm were creeping up from behind him and was about to pounce. 

But a moment later, Henry braked hard and suddenly- so much so that his brakeman had to pull the emergency brake, making the sparks fly about in a wild manner, showering the landscape with the brief screams and shrieks of metal grinding to a halt. 

Before Henry, there stood a lone white deer. It had a pelt that almost faintly glowed. It didn’t move even as Henry stopped feet away from it, seemingly unbothered by the sudden intruder. Henry weeshed steam, unsure of what to do. The silence was deadly, and he couldn’t hear his drivers talking (even if they were). The deer looked back at him, a doe without any antlers. It seemed to repel the silence in a way, and all of the sudden Henry remembered to breathe. 

“C-come on, move, won’t you?” He asked timidly. The deer didn’t move. It continued to look at him with those white eyes that reminded Henry of the moon. Henry was about to whistle at the deer, but something told him not to. His driver walked down and approached the deer, getting closer to it than Henry dared. 

“Be careful, please!” He pleaded, but his driver simply put his hand up to Henry to hush him. The deer looked at his driver slowly, not paying any mind to when he touches its pelt. 

“Aerg- shit!” His driver cursed and removed his hand. Steam was rising off of it, and his hand was coated in a light coat of frost that melted as soon as it appeared. “What th’ ‘ell? Henry, you see this to, right?” 

Henry blinked to tell his driver that, yes, he did see it and he didn’t want to go any closer. By this time, the fireman had come up. He was wearing his fireproof gloves, and upon listening to the driver of what happened, he tried to touch the deer. 

Instantly, a cloud of cold frost went up upon his touch. The fireman was determined to get a hand on the deer. The animal liked the unwavering touch and turned its head into the fireman’s touch, making his whole glove freeze and feel like a weight. 

The glove dropped to the ballast and ties with a dull thud, the ice already starting to melt. The fireman drew back and gripped his hand-- it was cold to the touch, but it was rapidly warming and the fireman (who was rather bewildered) looked at the deer. 

Then the first inch of the sun came out and the deer ran away off the tracks, faster then the driver or fireman could keep up with it. As it ran, it left a small trail of frost that melted in the morning rays of the sun. 

“Is this a dream? Driver, fireman, you saw that, right? I’m not making this up, right?” Henry broke the silence as he watched the animal disappear into the dark woods, fleeing the creeping light. Henry didn’t know what to think of this. Deer couldn’t be cold like that, and naturally forming ice in the early summer? Impossible.   
  
“Jesus. Henry, I think we need to report this-- but no one would believe us!” The driver mused as he walked back to the cab to lift the brakes, and Henry started to move once more. However, all three of them could feel a slight chill in their spines-- or in Henry’s case, his boiler-- and they all knew that something was about. 


End file.
